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Short v Long Scale - Just an observation

BAG

BAG

May 5, 2014
7,502
17,070
New Zealand
#1
Hi all, i'm mainly interested hearing from people who play different scale length basses. I started out only 18 months or so ago on a Jag shorty and really love it. Even after playing every bass (mostly full scale) that I could get my hands on when in the big smoke i still preferred my Jag to even big dollar basses.

I recently acquired a bargain priced Godin Shifter Classic and have really taken to it. Just love playing it and can't put it down. It really talks to me like nothing else I have had a chance to play. However, I picked up my Jag on Tuesday night for a little play and it now feels like a toy.

Anyone else felt this??
 
#3
1ekn50.jpg


dude, short scale basses absolutley rip!

we tuned it down to Drop C# and its growls like a dog. awesome.
 
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#4
Personally, no, but I can see how you might feel that way the first time you went back to the Jag. In my case, my first short scale bass was a Gretsch Broadkaster; switching from my P-Bass to the Gretsch felt like (and actually was) going to something bigger. Even though it's a short scale, the Broadkaster is... large. And going from the Gretsch to my Kramer Duke does feel like going to a toy, even though the scale is the same. The more you switch back and forth, though, the less you should notice it. I hardly notice the scale difference any more; my problem is remembering what knob/switch does what on all of them (maybe I have too many? Naahh..):)
 
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#5
I find adjusting to different scale lengths fairly easy - other than open strings, it's just like playing the same thing further up or down the neck, the proportions are the same, which is what apparently matters to me. Some short scales feel "toy-ish" to me, others don't. I guess I like them well enough, in the last few months, I've picked up a couple more short scales.
 
#7
Being fairly new I have issues switching back and forth. I try to play everything without staring at the fretwork. When I go from one to the other (short to long to short) it takes me a song or two to get back in sync! What I'm really trying to do is decide which I prefer. Long scale is a bit more difficult for me with small hands but I prefer having the bass choices available in long scale so I keep plugging away. I'll probably keep switching!
 
#8
bholder said:
I find adjusting to different scale lengths fairly easy - other than open strings, it's just like playing the same thing further up or down the neck, the proportions are the same, which is what apparently matters to me. Some short scales feel "toy-ish" to me, others don't. I guess I like them well enough, in the last few months, I've picked up a couple more short scales.
Click to expand...
Are the proportions the same? Aren't frets closer together on shortscale than longscale?
 
#9
i started out playing on a 36" scale custom 5 string, eventually played mostly 34" and 35" basses for years. now i play my 30" short scale jag all the time, and it doesn't feel at all like a toy - just shorter in scale. i also have a kala ubass and it doesn't feel like a toy. the one that felt closest to a toy to me was actually the mikro, possibly due to its very light weight and plastic knobs, but i still think it feels more like a bass than a toy.

BazzTard said:
short scale basses are closer in size to 6 string guitars than long scale basses. I always thought they didn't quite sound right, but that was 30 years ago and the strings probably weren't for short scales, those Jags look nice though.
Click to expand...

standard short scale basses (not counting even shorter scale basses like the mikro) are 4" shorter than a 34" bass, but those 30" short scale basses are 4.5" longer than a standard scale guitar, which weighs in at 25.5".
 
#10
I've had (and still have) many basses, from 28,60" to 35" scale

Nowadays all my basses are 34" scale except my son's Fender Modern Player Jazz which is 30"

I've experienced 28,60" (Fender Precision jr. and Ibanez Mikro) to be too short (together with 22 narrow frets on 30" scale Hofner "beatle bass") 32" scale to feel "neither fish nor meat" (Fender reverse jaguar and Warwick alien bass) and finally 35" scale to be just too much (Ibanez btb 7 string, 686 terrafirma, 675, 700, 780, Peavey Cirrus tiger eye 5 and Yamaha Trb 1004 and 1005)

All remainin' basses are 34" scale, bein' them 4, 5, 6 stringers except Fender Modern Player Jazz (p/j) which, even if 30" scale counts on a pinewood Jazz bass body (heavy as tonewood and large as offset design) so it allows my almost proverbial hipshot detuner on lower string and displays nearly full body look and authority.

Cheers,
Wallace
 
#11
BAG said:
Hi all, i'm mainly interested hearing from people who play different scale length basses. I started out only 18 months or so ago on a Jag shorty and really love it. Even after playing every bass (mostly full scale) that I could get my hands on when in the big smoke i still preferred my Jag to even big dollar basses.

I recently acquired a bargain priced Godin Shifter Classic and have really taken to it. Just love playing it and can't put it down. It really talks to me like nothing else I have had a chance to play. However, I picked up my Jag on Tuesday night for a little play and it now feels like a toy.

Anyone else felt this??
Click to expand...
Hi BAG, very similar situation here. Started a few years ago on the Jag SS, still have it and still love it. Got a Gretsch (also short scale), still have it, still love it. Got a full size P. Hmm, no, didn't work for me. Thought it was because it was a Squier, so went to get an MIA P. Couldn't find one I liked, and while looking, found the Shifter Classic. End of my search for a full scale bass. I do play the Godin maybe more than the others, and for the first while, changing scale length was a bit tough, but now I don't even really notice. But never really felt like I was playing a toy. It might not feel as good as the Godin, (you're right, it is hard to put down!), but the little Jag is great for playing in the back yard or taking camping with my little Roland bass cube.
 
#15
friendlybass said:
None of my short scales feel like a toy, even after playing my epi t-bird. Its all about your mentality towards the shorties.
Click to expand...
Exactly. If you perceive it as a toy, it's a toy. If not, it's a useful tool that can lead to some different tones. I mostly play long scale, but I have a couple shorties that I really dig as well. And Stanley Clarke has played shorties his whole career and nobody perceives his Alembic basses as toys.
 
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#18
I have two 31" scale Birdsongs, a 21" UBass and a few 34" scale basses.
The only time I need a few minutes to adjust to the different scale lengths is if I haven't played them in a while.
They all feel and sound so different that I just get into the individual characteristics of each one (spoken like the true space cadet I am).
 
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#19
I only own one bass which is an LTD B4-JR. My friend bought a standard scale Dean to learn on. Whenever I come over and mess around on that I feel like a small child. Very strange in that I'm 6' 1" and 235 pounds and she is nowhere near my size... I guess I'm just extremely uncomfortable on anything other than my own personal bass.
 

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